Notice the threshold which you must step over at
the bottom of the door opening.

The thresholds of every building built over 50 years ago has one of
these thresholds. The purpose of the threshold to prevent ghosts from
entering through the door. When passing over these thresholds you must
not step on the threshold. Males must cross left leg first. Females
must cross right leg first.

I

China, like the USA,
has many varieties of public safety officers in uniform. Some are
soldiers. Some are official police and many are rent-a-cops. The one
thing they all have in common is that their uniforms are all about two
sizes to big.

Some Chinese public toilets have these four star rating plaques. This
does not mean these restrooms are nice. They are just a bit less scummy
than average. All restrooms have squat-on-the-floor type toilets. A few
restrooms have one or two Western style toilets. Most of the toilet
enclosures do not have toilet paper. You have to get some before you go
in or bring your own.

Where ever there are tourists in China there are
street vendors eager to give you good deals. Here we have Rolex and
Omega knockoff watches. After a bit of bargining you can buy them at a
rate of four for ten dollars. The watches do work just fine.

Don't Litter!
I did not see any graffiti of any sort anywhere in China.

This was outside a restaurant. The guy covered in
liquid string had arrived by cab with his lady. His friends where there
to greet him. They spared his lady from this fate. After the fun was
over the perps carefully cleaned up their mess.

Entrance.

The average Chinese person needs to learn about 20,000 characters to be
literate. This may seem to be a monumental task but it is a lot simpler
than one might imagine.

Our tour included a trip to a traditional Chinese
doctor. The doctor checked our pulse, look at our tongues, sniffed our
aroma and then gave us a complete diagnoses of our ills. We were then
assured we could cure our problems with herbal medicine which they will
happily sell us for about $70 per prescription. The Doctor is assisted
by cute little nurses who mostly serve as translators.

The five elements and their
relationship to your body parts.

Just kidding.

Smoking is permitted just about everywhere and many Chinese do smoke.
They tend to ignore these signs.

Fire Hazard!

The Chinese people we all very friendly. It
seemed that they could not pass up an opportunity to interact with
Americans. This gentlemen was waving to us from his bus. This was a not
uncommon.

These two pretty girls
were posing for a picture being taken by a third girl. I took the
opportunity to also take their picture. They then ran up to me and
asked to see that picture. The girl on the left squealed
"Beautiful!" They then grabbed my friend and I and insisted that
we pose for pictures with them.

Almost every residential building had random air
conditioners tacked onto them as an after thought. I suppose it keeps
them cool but they sure look pitiful.

These air conditioners
are not typical American window units. The are designed much more like
our residential central air units. The compressor is outside.

The cooling coils and room fans are inside.

The air conditioner's operator
control panel.

The Chinese power line worker does
not need a mechanical lift. Instead he uses a bamboo ladder. There are
wheels at the bottom of the ladder.

The worker just pulls himself
along the wire from left to right.

America's contribution to Chinese
culture.

More cultural transfer.

Capitalism has arrived.

The China Airlines airplane seat backs are used for advertising.

More advertising.

Even the tray tables are not immune from
advertising.

This jet appears to have
been acquired second hand from a Spanish speaking country.